Oh my!  OK, I'll admit I'm obsessive-compulsive when it comes to cleaning
house and needing to have everything in its place and just so.  But when it
comes to money, I'm very irresponsible and don't think for a second about
what I'm spending or why.  DH, on the other hand, could live in the middle
of a trash heap quite happily, but needs to know where every penny goes and
holds onto said penny until it is shiny from rubbing!

We seem to work well together when we're not bashing heads over our
respective peccadilloes, since we tend to play on each others' strengths
rather than pick at each others' weaknesses.  But by doing this I pay
absolutely *NO* attention to how he manages the checkbook (online) or how he
files financial documents etc.

Yesterday, DH started pulling out everything he needs to do taxes (this is
the first year we've owned a home together and thus the first year it would
be sensible for us to do the long form).  Little did I know that he had kept
*EVERY* receipt for *EVERY* single purchase we made for the entire year (he
said something about in Texas you can deduct sales tax).

Now, had it been just him spending our money throughout the year he may have
had a small one-inch stack of receipts to sort.  But, he also had to sort
through *MY* receipts.  I had no idea how many purchases I made last year
until I saw receipts covering our kitchen table, piled high on all four
kitchen chairs, solidly covering three counter tops, and on half of the
available floor space.  All stacked and sorted into neat little piles
according to what type of purchase it was.

To bring this back on topic, I walked upstairs to see how he was doing (he's
been going at this since 10:00AM yesterday morning, and it's going on 18
hours of work now), and Sammy, as usual, was hot on my heels (hehehe, can
you guess where this is going???).

Sammy's eyes grew wide at the stacks and stacks of little pieces of paper
just waiting there so temptingly begging to be played with.  She started
running from halfway across the living room.  Ben turned and saw her heading
his way.

I could see DH's eyes grow wide as he realized Sammy's intention and thought
about his 18 hours of work about to be strewn to the four winds (well, at
least to the Sammy's wind).  DH jumped up to grab Sammy before she could
skid across the piles of receipts on the floor and jump from a chair to the
middle of the paper-covered table.  In his haste, DH accidentally knocked
into the table.  The table skidded across the floor, spilling receipts in
its wake, then knocked into the chairs which spilled *their* receipts in
their wake, and the receipts on the floor were scattered in the wake of the
table and chairs.

I managed to grab Sammy before she reached the kitchen, but as you can see,
even the *threat* of Sammy can cause havoc before she even arrives on the
scene!!!

Hugs,

CatNipped